CHAPTER XXI. 

 THE CONSERVATION OF BIRDS. 



I. NON-GAMEBIRDS THEIR DESTRUCTION, PROTECTION, AND 



ENCOURAGEMENT. 



According to the latest classification, there are eleven hun- 

 dred and twenty-four species of birds inhabiting America 

 north of Mexico. They are included in seventeen orders. 

 For our present purpose we will divide them into two classes, 

 — namely, gamebirds and non-gamebirds. The gamebirds, 

 comprising only five orders, amounting to two hundred and 

 twenty-two species, will be considered in the next chapter. 

 The nine hundred and two species and subspecies in the 

 twelve orders of non-gamebirds are of all sizes and of a wide 

 variety of habits. While of little or no use as food, and 

 generally recognized as important aids in keeping insects 

 within supportable limits, — or, in case of birds that prefer 

 other food than insects, either beneficial or at least harmless, 

 — they have too often been slaughtered and otherwise per- 

 secuted. 



It seems a well-established fact that birds, as a class, are 

 now less numerous in the United States than they were a 

 century or more ago. While some species have doubtless 

 become more abundant under the changed conditions of 

 modern civilization, others are very much rarer, and a few 

 appear to be approaching extinction. It was, of course, 

 inevitable that the changes produced by man's interference 

 with natural conditions should have a tremendous influence 

 upon the native fauna. Some birds have found the new dis- 

 pensation better suited to their wants than the old ; others 

 have changed their habits and made the best of it; while 

 others have been so relentlessly persecuted that their only 



255 



